Catch of a lifetime. Reflecting on the one that didn’t get away

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Fish on the move

Hey there, fellow anglers! It's that time of the year again at Lake of the Ozarks when the chill in the air starts to lift, and the fish begin to stir from their winter slumber. As your guide to all things fishy, I'm here to walk you through what you can expect as we transition from spring into summer, particularly focusing on March and April. We're talking weather, fish behavior, and of course, the secret sauce to what they're biting on. So, grab your favorite rod, and let's dive into it.

Weather Patterns & Water Temps: March kicks off with a bit of unpredictability in the air. You might find yourself starting the day in a jacket only to shed layers by noon. The water's still shaking off the cold, which means our fishy friends are slowly getting more active. By April, though, we're seeing more consistency with warmer days and the water temperatures creeping up - that's when the magic starts to happen. These fluctuations are key; as the water warms, the fish move shallow, making them easier targets for our pursuits.

Fish On The Move: As the season progresses, both smallmouth and largemouth bass, along with crappie, start to get a little restless. They're moving from their deep winter haunts to shallower waters. For bass, this pre-spawn period is like their morning coffee, getting them all hyped up and aggressive - great for us anglers. Crappie, on the other hand, are gearing up for their spawning season, which means they're more concentrated and, frankly, a bit easier to predict.

Largemouth Bass: These guys are all about the warming trends. They start to hit the shallow coves and docks, looking for that perfect spawning spot. The key here is to watch the weather. A string of warm days will have them moving shallow, while a sudden cold snap might push them back a bit. Look for them in areas with plenty of sun exposure - they're solar-powered creatures after all.

Smallmouth Bass: The smallies prefer a bit cooler temps than their largemouth cousins. They'll be hanging around rocky points and gravel areas, especially those that warm up quickly with the spring sun. They're a bit more weather-sensitive, so a sharp cold front can send them back to deeper water. Patience and a keen eye on the weather pattern will pay off.

Crappie: As for crappie, these slab-siders love structure - think brush piles, dock pilings, and submerged trees. As the water warms, they'll start moving from their deep winter spots to shallower water, getting ready for spawn. They can be a bit easier to predict and can make for some exciting fishing as they school up in large numbers.

What They're Biting On:

• Bass: For largemouth and smallmouth, it's hard to beat a good jig. A soft plastic or a craw imitation worked slowly around their potential hangout spots can be irresistible. As the water warms, don't be afraid to speed up your retrieve a bit, especially on warmer afternoons.

• Crappie: Minnows are always a safe bet, but jigs can be just as effective. Light colors tend to work well in clearer water, while brighter, more vibrant colors can be the ticket in stained conditions. Look for them to be especially active in the late afternoon as the water reaches its peak temperature for the day.

Remember, folks, fishing this time of year is as much about watching the weather as it is about knowing your quarry. Warm trends are your friend, signaling more active fish and better chances of landing that lunker. Keep an eye on those overnight lows too, as they can give you a heads-up on how the day might unfold.

So there you have it, my rundown for March and April at Lake of the Ozarks. Whether you're after bass or crappie, there's no better place to be this spring into summer. Keep these tips in mind, stay flexible, and most importantly, enjoy your time on the water. Tight lines, everyone!

Winter to Spring Fishing

 Fishing Winter to Spring 

The fishing is phenomenal here at Lake of the Ozarks with big bass transitioning to their springtime areas while hungry suspended crappie actively biting over deep water. We have been catching lots of numbers of keeper bass with some real nice 3-4 lb fish ranging in there. Primarily we are throwing jerkbaits, shakey head worms, alabama rigs and some crankbaits. The bigger keeper bass seem to be staging on the deeper main lake areas, still relatively close to shallow rock. While lots of our loaded up male bass are still staging deep on points in creeks. I only will throw an Alabama rig when the wind is constantly blowing or a large gust. If the lake is dead calm you're better off throwing a jerkbait or medium diving crankbait all day long. 

Crappie have been slowly working towards the spawning areas. The crappie seem to be  suspended in and over deep brush in condo docks. Also have found large schools of crappie suspended in the middle of creeks. They're some techniques that work well for deeper suspended crappie that is pingalum swinging the bait back to the boat along the big condo docks. While using that method for crappie I like using a ⅛ ounce jig head and a bobby garland plastic.  They are biting very well, just find an active school and we limit them quickly. 

Nothing more fun than a fast limit of delicious crappie, then feeling that pull we all crave from a big largemouth bass.  

Jerk Bait Fishing the Ozarks

A staple for me and most bass fisherman, especially if they are a wintertime fisherman is a jerk bait. A jerk bait is a hard body lure with three treble hooks and generally a smaller bill to get the bait to dive to the needed water level. All jerk baits are similar but are very different so making sure you have the right one for your fishing needs is important.     

A jerk bait is a great lure for cold water but can be good all year round as it's a fast action reaction bait. Most jerk baits drive a range between 6-8 feet but sometimes with some deeper winter fish a deeper style jerk bait can be a really good bet. Having a deeper jerk bait allows you to work the bait in 12+ feet of water giving you a deeper range of fish to target. It's all about the cadence of how you work the bait, for the winter most people give their bait a 6-8 second pause in between twitches. twitch, twitch, twitch pause for 6-8 and repeat. The colder and more lethargic your fish are the longer you let it pause. I catch them on 12-20-second-long pauses when my bait is in a school or high potential area. In an area where you have got bit or caught a fish, really let that bait sit and do lots of repeat cast into that area. Generally, in the winter months the bass school is tight together. Usually when you catch one there is a handful to be caught with it. 

 Some of my favorite jerk baits to throw are a mega bass 110, spro mc stick, jackal rearrange and a lucky craft pointer. All of these model baits come in a deeper bill size for the deeper staging fish that won't come up for the traditional jerk bait. Having a jerk bait that suspends is very important if your bait is floating or sinking your chances of getting big bites drops dramatically. If you bait is not suspending properly you can add lead wire to the hooks or suspend dots which you stick the bait adding more weight for it to suspend.  I Like to throw a jerk bait on a 10-12lb fluorocarbon line paired with a 6’10 medium action rod.  The reason you throw fluorocarbon for a jerk bait instead of monofilament is fluorocarbon sinks while mono floats so in order to get your bait to suspend properly fluorocarbon is the way to go. If you are yet to try a jerk bait at all I would highly recommend it, especially if you haven't tried it in the cold winter months here at Lake of the Ozarks. 

Let's go do some fishing, I will show you the secrets to catching consistent big bass all winter long on jerk baits. Once you fish a jerk bait you will never go back to your traditional winter techniques.

Winter Bass Fishing Lures

Winter Bass Fishing Baits 

Wintertime bass fishing can be either really good or really tough. It's all about knowing what to look for and using the right cold-water lures. A few staple baits for cold winter bass are an “A rig” or Alabama rig, jerk bait, and a finesse jig. All baits have a different role to play on the water every day in the winter. That being they all fish in a different water column, some are more for hunger bites, while others you can work into a good reaction bait. 

An Alabama rig is a bait that mimics a ball of shad using 5 wires with 3 that have paddle tail swimbaits on them with two dummy swimbaits. In the state of Missouri, it is against the law to use all 5 hooks you are only allowed 3. The Alabama rig is really productive when the water temp gets into the low 50s high 40s. When the bass are suspended over deep water it is my go-to option for the winter. You can do a long cast over a wide area mimicking a ball of shad, controlling with your reel speed how fast or slow the bait will move. The slower you reel the deeper it will be, reeling the bait faster will keep it in the middle to top half of the water column. . You can also give your rod big twitches or strokes to entice a reaction bite out of fish watching or following the bait. Letting your bait fluctuate through the water column with stop and go retrieval can be another good way to get bit. 

Having the right equipment when using a rig is very important.  I generally use 3.3in or 3.8in swimbaits on a rig with ¼ oz swimbait heads. If I am wanting my bait to go deeper, I will put ½ oz jig heads and occasionally put bigger 4.0in swimbaits when the bass are targeting bigger shad. The rod set up I use is a 7’4ft heavy action rod with 20-25lb fluorocarbon paired with a fast action reel like 7.2.1. Having a rod with enough backbone, length in the rod and light tip is important to casting a bait so heavy far all day long.  A key component to loading the boat with a rig fish is wind, having that direct wind on the bank you're casting on is very important. That and fishing deep water channel banks that have big chunk rocks or brush throughout the spot. Some fishermen prefer to throw a rig on a 50-60lb braided line. I generally use 20-25lb fluorocarbon I feel the bait cast smoother with fluorocarbon line also the 25 lb. has plenty of strength to straighten the hooks out when snagged. 

A rig is a fish catching machine that I highly recommend all fisherman to use in the cold winter months. This Bait fished right will put all other wintertime baits tot shame and be your prominent fish catcher this season.

Lake of the Ozarks Winter Fishing

Lake of the Ozarks has been fishing really well this past week! plenty of nice largemouth bass and crappie being pulled out recently. With the water temp around 43 degrees the fish are schooling and roaming in most deeper channel areas. Largemouth bass have been crushing a jerk bait and a rig in anywhere from 12-30 feet of water. Anywhere that there is deeper water in a creek or along a main lake channel graph over it and see if you find bait fish. Locating the bait fish is key to loading the boat with an active school of crappie or bass.  

       I found a large school of shad in a creek all ranging from 2-3inches long. There was a mega school of crappie engulfing the shad chasing them all across the cove. Staying with the bait fish I worked a small swimbait, a 3-inch spark shad through them and also threw a larger style bobby garland crappie swim bait. The bait was suspended in the middle to lower water column in 25-30 feet of water getting pushed all over by an aggressive school. It seemed when I found nicer sized shad the crappie was consistently bigger around 11-13 inches instead of picking through tons of little crappie. Letting my bobby garland sink around 20 feet then slowly let the line pendulum swing back to the boat or ever slowly reeling the bait. To target the more aggressive bigger fish in the school I would use a 15–20-foot diving jerk bait, get it in the water column of where the fish are actively feeding and give it a jerk jerk with a long 8-10-second-long pause in between. doing this I had multiple crappies at 14inches and a few nice keeper bass as well. 

If you are yet to go wintertime fishing at Lake of the Ozarks, you are missing out. Nonstop fish action with both bass and crappie, the serenity of having the whole lake to yourself and lots of wintertime crappie to feed the family.

Nice Tournament Training

GOT ON THE BASS!!

We had a blast. Thanks guys see you later in the summer!!!

CURRENT FISHING TIPS

June 1st- morning Bass fishing was good today schooled up spotted bass made for some fast action

June 1st- evening Bass fishing was a success with lots of nice 3-4lb largemouth bass

June 2nd- Morning had tons of action lots of nice bass on top water watching a predator fish explode on the surface sure is a sight to see.